Spring Mixer

EAP_SocialMixer_WebsiteGraphic
Thursday, May 9, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Pro Arts
150 Frank H Ogawa Plaza
Oakland, CA 94612

FREE! RSVP via Eventbrite

You asked and we answered! We know you love our heady panel discussions and all but, perhaps even more, you love to let your hair down with us.

Come network, mingle, and explore one of Oakland’s leading galleries! Meet fellow Bay Area artists and arts sector workers over drinks and snacks at Pro Arts, and learn more about Emerging Arts Professionals (EAP). See over 400 pieces in Pro Arts’ East Bay Open Studios Preview Exhibition and enter our business card raffle for some special art prizes. Bring your cards and a desire to meet like-minded folks!

Mixer is FREE but please REGISTER HERE

 

 

Thanks to Pro Arts for hosting!

Pro Arts Logo

501 See (3) You Later?

501 See (3) You Later501 See (3) You Later?
Hub Berkeley
Thursday, April 18
6:30 p.m.

2150 Allston Way, Suite 400
Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 649-7700

Is the 501(c)(3) model the only way to run an arts organization? Arts and culture organizations face greater challenges as traditional arts funding decreases and philanthropic needs shift rapidly. Join us to learn about new financial models including benefit corporations (B corps), low-profit limited liability corporations (L3Cs) , and the emerging economy of social enterprises and impact investing.

Experts from the field will teach you essential information on each of these new financial models while you mingle with arts, culture, and business workers from across the Bay Area region. We will conclude the evening with a fun arts prototyping activity giving you the opportunity to make a creative enterprise using one of the new financial models.

Get your ticket now on Eventbrite.

Moderator:

Mariko Chang (Former EAP Fellow & Masters Candidate at JFK University)

Panelists include:

Andy Fyfe (Community Developmment at B Lab)
Josh Furnas (Owner at Selfless)
Daniel Roberts (Attorney at K2 Law Group)

The Arts Skyline 2015

Skyline2915_emergingsfwebThe Arts Skyline 2015
Wednesday, March 27, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Center for New Music
55 Taylor Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 [map]
This Event is free!

Space is limited! RSVP via Eventbrite

With major renovations and new building projects for both longstanding arts institutions and emerging ones underway, the Bay Area’s Arts Skyline is undergoing a significant shift – in philosophy and in practice. Creative placemaking and other trends have begun to inform a reimagined concept of the spaces and places in which we create, exchange, imagine, perform, and present; transient multipurpose projects from pop-ups to reclaimed spaces are transforming the way we think about the arts institution as place.

Join EAP for an enlivening discussion featuring panelists from leading organizations and institutions involved in community practices and capital campaign projects to learn about their contributions to the evolving cultural skyline.

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Panelists include

Barrett ShaverDirector of Development, SFJAZZ
Christopher Borg, Executive Director, Community Music Center
Gina BassoPublic Programs Associate, SFMOMA
Jack Carpenter, Production Director, SF Ethnic Dance Festival

 

Event Recap: At the Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

By Deborah French Frisher 

It seemed impossible to match the frequency outside Gray Area Foundation for the Arts last week on San Francisco’s Market Street when the Giants played the second game of the World Series several city blocks away.

And once inside the no-nonsense GAFFTA location for the panel event At the Mercy of the Crowd(funding), the field of what is possible at the intersections of technology, arts, and culture was alive with a voltage of enthusiasm just as palpable.

The panel addressed the full room full of innovators in a presentation and Q & A that gave new meanings to the terms of  pitch, strategy, team, and fans or friends.

Coaching from the panel
The diverse panel was moderated by the Stacy Bond, creator and executive producer of SonicSF. Panelists included Alex Kane, musician; Eleanor Hanson Wise, co-founder of The Present Group; and John Spokes, director of development,
USA Projects.

Stacy introduced her role on the panel with a generous disclosure about how her experience in crowdsourcing funds through Kickstarter had fallen short of their vision for a launch, creating a credible space for sharing not only successes, but the failed attempts that are inevitable and lead to successful strategies through lessons learned. Eleanor described successes of The Present Group in providing a subscription service for clients to receive and view cutting edge on-line art, web hosting with incentive prizes and an experiment in art micropartronage. Alex described his resourcefulness in a college social media marketing class of enrolling class members to make their assigned project his Kickstarter campaign, describing the critical value of a small mass of friends that moved his campaign as a solo musician. He also spoke about the soft value of getting the word out about one’s project through the crowd funding process. John brought a seasoned presence to the panel, describing the role of the artist in the ecology of culture, providing not only an introduction to the philosophical framework of USA Projects, but validating the challenges and gifts of most of the people in the room.

The thrill of the full house that evening generated the kind of intelligent hope and informed commitment to find one’s community and enlarge the spirit and service of that community through your shared vision. The event at GAFTTA offered concrete ideas for how to get your game on as a team so that the crowd (funding) will come.

Take-home tips

  • Go together, not alone. Have a supportive circle, a group of friends that can amplify your reach through social media.
  • Take confident hold of the important roles played in culture and its economic ecology by artists, tech innovators, and cultural administrators when sustaining the original passion through the long concrete hours of work that goes into project crowd funding.
  • Practice pitch perfect; it takes feedback and revision of content to choose the words that get your project’s idea out of your brains and into someone else’s heart.
  • Rejection or falling short of the funding goal is an opportunity for clarification.
  • Repeat yourself, oh, yes, say it again and again and be sensitive to the timing: a burst of enthusiasm in the beginning, a slump in support after, and a subsequent need for that second wind to bring the project home in the life of your crowd funding campaign.
  • Make innovative offers with meaningful benefits to those who give to your campaign and, thereby, become partners in reaching your goal. Cultivate community and involvement.

Thanks to folks at GAFFTA for the open door on Market Street and it’s role in making sense that night of the madding crowd(funding).

 

About Deborah
Deborah French Frisher is a writer working as project Director for GlobalChill.org, assistant professor in drama therapy at California Institute for Integral Studies, and author of the burgeoning blog her French press.

Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

Thursday, October 25, 6:00 PM
Gray Area Foundation For the Arts
923 Market Street, Suite 200, San Francisco (map)
Sliding scale, $5-$25

Space is limited! RSVP via Eventbrite

 

Crowdfunding platforms are proving there’s a new way to raise money in the arts. As of April 2012, a total of 20,000 projects raised $200 million+ through Kickstarter alone. Join Arts + Tech SF and Emerging Arts Professionals (EAP) as we explore how crowdfunding platforms are being used in the arts and creative sector.

We’ll explore questions like:

  • How is technology and a hyperconnected world helping artists get their projects off the ground?
  • How are funding models being changed by technology?
  • And what happens if my project isn’t funded?

Panelists
Eleanor Hanson Wise, Director & Co-Founder, The Present Group
Alex Kane, Musician
John Spokes, Director of Development, USA Projects
moderator Stacy Bond, Creator & Executive Producer, SonicSF / EAP Fellow 2011-12
6:00 PM Performance by Alex Kane
6:30 PM Panel
Reception to follow

 

This program is presented by ArtsTech, Emerging Arts Professionals / SFBA, and Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, and is one of many Creative Conversations taking place in October as part of National Arts and Humanities Month, coordinated by Americans for the Arts.

Special thanks to our in-kind partners Naked Wines and Whole Foods Market, and Tumblr as lead sponsor of ArtsTech.

 

Panelist Biographies

Eleanor Hanson Wise is the co-founder and director of The Present Group, a project-based initiative that blurs the line between art production, commerce, advocacy, and philanthropy. She has developed a program for TPG that includes an art subscription service, a web hosting service that funds an intermittent arts prize, and Art Micro Patronage, an experimental exhibition platform showcasing and funding artwork online.

 

 

 

 

John Spokes, an experienced fundraiser and management consultant with an extensive background in the performing arts, joined the USA team in 2011 after serving as the director of development at UCLA Live for five years. In Minneapolis, Spokes operated his own nonprofit management consulting business and served as director of development at Chrysalis, A Center for Women, successfully implementing a multimillion-dollar capital campaign. From 1994-98, he was a key part of the development team at Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater, working as director of annual and individual giving, interim development director, and director of community giving. He was also the annual fund manager at the highly respected Children’s Theatre Company, director of development at the innovative Illusion Theatre, and co-founder and managing director of the Eye of the Storm Theatre. Spokes devotes much of his work and leisure time to arts advocacy as a volunteer leader. When he moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, he was able to sell his snow blower – a day he considers to be the most liberating moment of his life!

 

 

Standing Room Only


Standing Room Only
Defining Success in Arts and Culture
Tuesday, August 14
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM

hosted by Cartoon Art Museum

RSVP via Eventbrite

Is it a hit? In the arts we define success in very specific ways. What does it mean for a program to be a hit? Commercial and popular success? Critical acclaim? Earned income? All of the above?

Join the Bay Area Emerging Museum Professionals and Emerging Arts Professionals SFBA as we mingle and define success in the creation and presentation of art.

This collaborative conversation and mixer will begin with short presentations from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM featuring:

Jenna Glass, Associate Director of Marketing, ODC
Annie Phillips, Musician / Public Relations Assistant, SF Symphony / Manager, Magik*Magik Orchestra
Rob Ready, Marketing Manager, ODC / Co-Founder, PianoFight
Gregory Stock, Museum Educator-Public Programs, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Brian Wiedenmeier, Institutional Giving Director, ODC

They’ll share their experiences with hit shows, describe how their organizations define success, and talk about the ways emerging arts workers can redefine and better measure success.

We’ll keep the ideas flowing with casual conversations, social media, and an “idea board,” all while enjoying drinks and snacks compliments Emerging Arts Professionals.

 

6:00 PM – 6:30 PM  Drinks & Networking

6:30 PM – 7:30 PM  Presentations

7:30 PM – 8:30 PM Open Discussion & Networking

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Presented by Bay Area Emerging Museum Professionals and Emerging Arts Professionals / San Francisco Bay Area, hosted by Cartoon Art Museum

Nonprofit Finance: A Primer for Young Professionals

Sunday, July 22, 2-5pm
& Sunday, July 29, 2-5pm

at Intersection for the Arts
925 Mission Street, San Francisco

Sliding scale $20-$80 per session
Free for EAP Fellows
Register at Eventbrite 

To recieve up to the minute updates,
click attending at this events’ Facebook page.

This workshop is provided in two parts. In our first session on July 22, we will review the differences between cash and accrual accounting and financial statements: Balance Sheets, Income Statements, and Statements of Cash Flows. In the second part we will learn how to analyze these statements so you can determine the viability of an organization and its projects, and make projections for future years.

The discussions in the second session on July 29 are extremely important in creating a long-term plan. Too often, nonprofits make the mistake of creating budgets on the fly: organizations create balanced budgets one or two months prior to the new fiscal year. Such a document becomes useless in the case of economic booms and busts. Solid financial planning gives a nonprofit the tools to make decisions.

You will gain the most from the second session if you are able to bring 5 years of financial data from your organization. This can come in the form of Cultural Data Project, Annual Reports, or IRS 990s. All nonprofit 990s are available through guidestar.org (registration is free). Please remember that analysis and forecasting requires 5 years of data. Participants without access to historical data will use a sample set.

You are welcome to participate in only one of the two sessions, but encouraged to do both!

About the Instructor

THERESE F. MARTIN is a management consultant and professor of management and finance. She has worked, consulted, and lectured in the fine arts sector and has overseen multi-sector projects and served on numerous boards of directors and on panels for the City of San Francisco and San Francisco Unified School District’s Visual and Performing Arts Office.

She was the executive director | chief executive officer of ArtSpan, a San Francisco visual arts nonprofit, where she executed turnaround and re-organization. She was the development director of Young Audiences of Northern California. She will serve as a faculty senator at Golden Gate University in 2012-2014 and has served as the treasurer | board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals; as secretary | board member of Oasis for Girls, a young women’s resource organization; and as the treasurer | executive committee member of the Arts Providers Alliance of San Francisco, a consortium of arts education providers. Prior to nonprofit work she was a project manager in the publishing industry and art consultant.

Ms. Martin is a doctoral candidate at Golden Gate University and was a 2010-11 Fellow with the Emerging Arts Professionals of San Francisco. She holds an MBA in Executive Business Administration from Golden Gate University, a Certificate in Fund Raising Management from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, and a BFA in Art History from the University of Kansas.

Emergence Recap: Collaborations in Situ

collaborations in situBy Leora Lutz

Talk is, in fact, not “cheap” as they say: it gets ideas going. When the mission statement loses its voice that is the time to start walking again – to walk the walk. And that is what the three panelists at the Collaborations in Situ discussion at the Emergence Conference on June 4, 2012, have been doing.

At the round table were Renee Baldocchi, Curator of the de Young Museum’s Artist Fellows Program; Lex Leifheit of SOMArts; and Ernesto Sopprani of The *OFFCENTER. Moderated by Julie Potter, EAP Fellow, the panel casually yet passionately discussed the objectives, achievements, and challenges of creating and sustaining a residency program in the City.

Urban residencies stimulate collaboration

Stepping outside of the comfort zone and taking risk became a starting point that each speaker mentioned when reviewing their various program models. New thinking is the key to a residency, from a curatorial standpoint as well as for the artist who will be the resident. Symbiotic to the process of collaboration is creating innovative, engaging, and important experiences for not only the artists but for the public, too.

One particular model of an artist residency is the retreat, or the intensive workshop. Many of them are pastoral retreats, where the artist resides on site in the company of others of like-mind. The residencies range from one month to longer, and are designed for the artists to make work without the distractions of daily life that would normally take away from their studio practices.The residencies in discussion on this day are not pastoral retreats. They are in the heart of San Francisco, and are geared toward not only an extended period of time for intensive art making, but also involve a commitment to engage with the pubic in compelling and innovative ways. All three of the programs support interdisciplinary models of making, incorporating social practice, performance, and exhibitions.

In a sense, the residency helps propel the artist from the solitary position as maker and into the active role of engagement with audiences in innovative ways. The innovation is two-fold as the projects grow between the curators and the resident artists, but also often becomes multifold depending on the additional artists or collaborators that the artist may invite to join them and expand their ideas.

Collaborations in Situ drawing by Todd Berman

Drawing by Todd Berman

Taking it beyond

A key to innovation with all three of the panelists’ programming is the balance between experimentation and developing a final outcome through rigorous (and fun) exploration and incubation of new ideas. Activating space is part of the final outcome goal in order to impart cultural learning, and to question the role of institutions and their “obligation” to the public.

Through a reciprocal sharing platform, the programs can become sustainable, and be resilient engines for taking risk and being spontaneous. The artist is the centralized idea-generator and the institution or organization works closely with them to develop their concept and bring it to full fruition for the public. Because of the interdisciplinary structure of the work, and the malleability of performative works, the projects can travel – decentralizing the static position of the institution. It gives flexibility to literally drop the art at any location, even exploring new modes of exhibition through the internet, and thus removing the preciousness of site-specificity.

As the round-table continued, new topics came up as the discussion morphed into its own version of a professional performance. One of these nuggets of collective genius brainstorming was the topic of a “Road Map” for artists. In asking themselves out-loud, one has to wonder about the countless other artists that are not being represented or being accepted into their programming. There is not enough funding to include every artist, so how could they help the ones who are left out? The passion and concern to do more is there…what exactly that is will have to happen over more discussions.

Collaborations in Situ photo by Robbie Sweeny

Photo by Robbie Sweeny

Collaboration in situ: it’s meta!

An ongoing challenge of the programs was to address traditional definitions head-on and find solutions every time the word “no” comes up from partnering or governing entities. Reaching out and constantly bringing new people into the mix allows for fresh voices and new perspectives to achieving goals. This drive also creates a dynamic ripple effect throughout the community. It is a continuous learning process – one that requires constant reassessment, revisiting, changing and adjusting with each passing year as the economy changes, and as the artists’ desires change, and the wants of the public changes.

Keeping artists in the forefront of the creative environment and supporting them is the basis for keeping change fluid and vital. Collaborations are an exciting, rewarding business and social model that empowers everyone involved and ultimately extends passion and vitality to the public and the greater community – it is win/win. Seek out mentors, get hands-on, dig in and don’t wait for funding to get started – find a way to do it, and most importantly talk to others.

About Leora Lutz

Leora Lutz is an interdisciplinary artist with an extensive history as a curator, gallerist, and art administrator. Her practice in all aspects grabs onto historical context, alters it, and re-presents it as a way to shift previous understanding into flux. Her work has shown at galleries, institutions, and museums, including MOCA, Palm Springs Museum of Art, UCR Sweeney Gallery, Riverside Art Museum, and the Henry Project Space in Seattle. Her art and professional bibliography includes numerous critiques and profiles from The Los Angeles Times, NBC news, White Hot Magazine and LA Weekly to name a few.

Todd Berman’s work can be found at The Art Don’t Stop. Robbie Sweeny’s photography can be found at In Gutters and Stars.

Microfinance for the Arts: How to Build an Investing Community

By Mariko Chang, EAP Fellow Microfinance for the Arts

As artists and arts and culture workers, we are fueled by passion, ideas, and the creative process. And although we hate to admit it, we need money, too.

With that in mind, in March I attended an evening seminar at Pro Arts in Oakland to hear John Spokes, Director of Development at United States Artists, talk about microfinance opportunities through a program called USA Projects.

Microfinance with USA Projects

In 2010, United States Artists Projects (USA Projects) was formed in response to recent budget cuts and a diminishing number of individual grants available to artists. Similar to Kickstarter, the organization gives large groups of people the ability to donate small amounts of money to specific projects. For instance, Michel Varisco raised more than $11,500 over several weeks to fund a photography book in which she proposed to document the beauty and destruction of the wetlands and Gulf of Mexico.

This process, known as microfinance or microphilanthropy, uses an online platform to funnel private donations directly to artists. With the help of technology, sharing information and funding are convenient and easy, which helps to engage new donors.

Benefits for artists

  • Professional services: USA Projects provides one-on-one advice to help with your pitch and video. Dedicated staff members also provide consultation regarding project deadlines, goal setting, and social networking. (Note: Grants, fellowships, residencies, or other recognition are required prior to participating in USA Projects.)
  • Matching funds: USA Projects offers access to a pool of funding to leverage additional support. A development team assists artists by matching them with interested donors or agencies that help to build one’s personal donor base.
  • Fundraising share: Artists receive 81 percent of the money raised from the campaign (the remaining 19 percent goes to USA Projects). Although this may seem like a lot, USA Projects boasts a 75 percent success rate with an average of 114 percent raised over goal set.

Benefits for donors

  • Tax deduction: As a nonprofit with IRS 501(c)(3) tax exemption status, all donations to artists through USA Projects are tax deductible.
  • Social network: USA Projects offers social networking features as part of its website, which allows donors as well as other artists to track the progress of both an individual artist or project.

My two cents on microfinance

Early this year, the blog Read Write Web published an article stating that Kickstarter was on track to outfund the National Endowment for the Arts. For me, this proved the power of collective action, and I wondered how this model could transform the relationships between people and museums.

Today, museums struggle to address the gap between established donors and younger generations. Based on the concept of microfinance, one solution might be to give younger audiences an option that fits their lifestyle, budget, and comfort level. By providing interesting opportunities to give without it being a huge commitment, museums can help familiarize younger audiences with the idea and act of philanthropy in hopes of building life-long community members.

Have you tried microfinance, either as a donor or to fund a project? Tell us about it in the comments.

Image: Adapted from a photo by JD Hancock